What is that?!

One of my friends is learning how to crochet and she's getting a bit frustrated... I can remember the feeling! Over the years I've had a lot of people lately complimenting me on my crocheting/ berrysprite skills (thanks so much!), but I've also had a lot of people asking for help and guidance, which I try to give as much as I can. The thing is, it's one thing to have someone else tell you that you're doing a great job and to keep working through the difficulties of crocheting and another to actually be trying; and rectifying the two can be frustratingly slow. So I thought that I'd share some pictures of my first amigurumi to give everyone who's trying to learn but getting really bogged down and depressed a bit of perspective.... and ultimately to show that absolutely no one starts off making perfect amigurumi to begin with!

I know right? You're first question is... what is that?! This was my very very first amigurumi... I was trying to make a mushroom! As you can see, I don't even have the stitches right (I didn't properly learn how to make a sc [single crochet stitch] until like a year AFTER I started selling on etsy... no joke!) and my tension is all off. I think my sister's words in describing this mushroom were "It looks like a dorky lollipop" (she is now the proud owner of said dorky lollipop).

Here is my very first fruit amigurumi (with my same demented stitches)... you can see that you even need to learn how to decorate your amigurumi!!!

So, with all of that my only bit of advice for now is to keep going... maybe watch an instructional video or two...its really great that now-a-days there are TONS of how to videos on crocheting on youtube and various other places, and those can help you a lot (because there's nothing like seeing someone actually making the stitches for you to know exactly how you're supposed to hold the needle, where the yarn is supposed to go, etc. (P.S. I hope to be posting some videos and more crocheting tutorials in the future, just give me time guys and I promise one day they will be yours!) The main thing to remember is: when you get frustrated and think that no one will want your amigurumi, or that they're ugly, or whatever it is you're thinking, just remember that you always have to start somewhere, and that with patience and time (and of course hard work) you can do almost anything!

My mushrooms now!!! You can do it guys, just keep at it!

Visit my friend Melly Kay at Cute Stew!

Remember how I mentioned in an offhand way that my blog/cozies/ stuff has been getting a lot of attention lately? Well head on over to the superbly awesome Cute Stew! The lovely Melly Kay has featured berrysprite in a BIG way on Cute Stew... it's really great. Now, I wouldn't send you over there just to read about me and berrysprite, nuh-uh nosireebob; Cute Stew is so much fun! Besides things like Music Mondays and Melly Kay's wicked awesome photography/ graphic illustration skills (which make things look like they are in magazines!) she also encourages readers to join in; I was really drawn in by her efforts to support local businesses across the US and world this summer... Melly Kay posts prompts and that encourage readers to photograph, document and share their local experiences... through food, shopping, etc! Plus Melly Kay is the sweetest girl ever, and the blog itself is very hip and cool, and definitely So... Much... FUN!!!!

July Calendar

It's that special time of month again.... hahaha! July's calendar is now available for download off of flickr or photobucket. This month is actually my birthday month, so I thought it would be fun if Scout and Oscar got all kinds of goodies to eat! Hope you like it!


"Scout and Oscar decided to have a royal dessert feast! Delicious pies, tarts and doughnuts are readily available, but Scout really is quite partial to the cupcakes :D"

Merlion illustration and amigurumi

Have you guys ever heard of a merlion? Its a mythical creature that is half fish and half lion, and it's the national mascot and beloved symbol of Singapore! Here's my kawaii version of a merlion; I liked it so much I decided to make an amigurumi merlion.


Just a reminder if you haven't already (and a big thank you to everyone who has already voted)... please vote for my "nautical merpeople" fabric in Spoonflower's fabric contest, which ends June 30! Click here to vote! Thanks people •ᴥ•

Tokidoki makeup

Grrr... I spent the better half of tonight looking for a Sephora gift card I got for Christmas which I still haven't spent yet, due to not wanting anything makeup-y (I still don't wear makeup even though I have freckles galore!) Yep, I'm not a makeup/cosmetics kinda girl... my last makeup purchase was one of those deals from clinique where you get lots of little samples and 2 cute bags decorated with apples; I could have cared less about the actual makeup because what I really wanted were the apple bags (isn't that dorky?)! In fact, the last time I got a gift card to a makeup store I actually spent it on perfume (salvatore ferragamo incanto heaven- a yummy tropical floral) rather than makeup.


But now I want makeup!!! And I can't find my danggit giftcard! Sigh. I might actually have to shell out some pocket money for cosmetics, seeing as how tokidoki has a relatively new line of uber cute makeup at Sephora. Look at how wonderfully colorful everything is... emblazoned with all of your favorite tokidoki characters (see, I told you packaging was a big part of your product!) It's a bit expensive, but I'll probably only get one of those eyeliners that doubles as a temporary tattoo marker and some lip gloss. I could be mistaken, but I think Sephora is the only place that carries this line. Ah, tokidoki makeup... I'll have to think heavily on this, though I'm seriously jealous of all you lovely ladies that already have your mitts on some!

Newest ipod cozy designs!

Thanks for all the love lately guys, it really makes me smile! I was working on these new ipod touch/ iphone cozies over the weekend since they've been doing well in my shop... they've also generated a tiny little buzz on the interweb; The lovely ladies at supercutekawaii included them in their flickr friday pics! Anyway, the two newest designs are.... PANDA and STRAWBERRY, yay! The panda was easy and came about as a customer request (I had planned on doing a panda originally but I ran out of black cotton yarn so I put that idea on the ol' backburner; but when a customer is really sweet about asking I can't say no!) The strawberry was a bit more difficult, I reworked it a couple of times... for example, the first one had pointy leaves that ended up being rather crooked! Essentially I ended up making 3-4 cozy prototypes, which I promptly unraveled once I determined they weren't up to berrysprite standards. The fact that you can usually unravel anything you've crocheted is simultaneously awesome and terrible; unraveling stuff feels good, like you get to start again if you make a mistake... but the bad part is that you have to start again! I think the end product/ strawberry cozy came out really nice... so much so that I even made a red strawberry cozy for myself, which is rare because I hardly ever keep anything for me :D